Silber. Its main points focused on the antagonist mother-daughter dynamics as they appear in fairy tales. I was particularly interested to discover the role of the wicked stepmother in the heroine’s path toward “femininity” (Fisher and Silber 123). In this source, the authors discus that in the absence of the heroine’s true and righteous mother, her pathological stepmother is “the only available, living ‘model’ of feminine maturity” (124). And since the stepmother was put under severe social criticism, the heroine’s ‘reaction’ was to associate herself with “the passive, feminine identity of the first queen, avoiding any identification with the active principle embodied in the characterization of the bad mother/witch” (124).
Merida differed from other Disney princesses with her style and personality. She had curly red hair, abhorred wearing a dress, engaged in archery and challenged societal convention that tried to put her in a box. In the case of Merida 's characterization, Disney attempted to give her a feminine “makeover” but public outcry led them to rethink this decision (Child, 2013). It begs the question: Why must these young girls always be limited to the roles of perfect princesses? Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My
Mirror Mirror defies the patriarchal—and frankly a little sexist—way of story-telling we have become accustomed to, showing the audience that women are capable of being the hero in their own story. Snow White’s character is drastically different from the house-cleaning, apple-eating damsel in distress we are used to. Instead, she is a bandit—a fierce woman who is not afraid to fight her own battles and save the prince along the way. Snow White herself encapsulates the essence of this change in the following lines from the movie: “I read so many stories where the prince saves the princess in the end. I think it’s time we changed that ending.” As a woman who grew up reading tales about fragile princesses waiting for their knights in shining armor to sweep in and save the day, I cannot tell you how good hearing those lines feels, and that is the biggest reason why this adaptation is worthwhile.
These are all archetypes commonly found in classical fairytales and they each posses certain traits. Though these aren't the only ones and there are exceptions, these will be the only ones presented in depth here as they are the most commonly reoccurring ones. Fables exemplify the ways that social structure, and the patriarchy, attempts to hush and mistreat women by portraying them inactive. A significant part of the tall tale writing strengthens the thought that women ought to be wives or mothers, compliant and benevolent. Ladies in stories are to be quiet and passive, without aspiration, lovely and eager to wed.
For Olive is the last of a magical female race and is determined to remain a Winnowwood no matter what it costs her. And the costs will be high. The Ugly Princess will take you on an amazing adventure filled with twists, turns and an ending that will take your breath away because it is also a love story of the most unusual, magical kind. (If you would like something longer, I can provide it.) 2.
The Grimm Brother’s “Rapunzel” is arguably the best-known version of the classic story after the Disney version. As fairytales go, Rapunzel does not stray too far from the stereotypical representations of female characters, featuring the good mother, the misrepresented evil witch of a stepmother and the passive princess. Placed into their boxes, and never allowed to change the course of their storyline, these women are denied any form of activity or satisfaction unless their male counterpart allows it to be so. Through the investigation of the Grimm Brother’s “Rapunzel”, a well as looking at how these characters are represented in different versions of the tale, it is clear that the patriarchal and sexist ideologies of the times these stories
The impact on the audience does not seem to be satisfactory when a reversal of roles happens; the women become the heroines that do not need a man to come and save them. Attempting to destroy the patriarchal system the authors try to embrace the idea of more developed characters, plots, and events. They support Donna Jo Napoli’s example that gives power to the real feminist fairy tales, not fractured ones. “In her fairy tales, Napoli pays as much attention to subverting stereotypes of heroes and princes as she does to redefining female protagonists.” (Kuykendall et al. 37).I find this article helpful but even though the arguments present in the text are persuasive I still have mixed feelings about the impact on the audience.
The author also tells us that even thought she doesn't want her daughter believing in all of these fairytales and princess stories, she still hopes that she finds her prince charming and has children with him and won't mind taking care of them or doing the dishes. The author came across the game Super Princess Peach and admired how in the game a group of princess' where getting down and dirty, as they went through obstacle courses and challenges in their beautiful gowns, tiaras and heels. Scholars think that the reason for the Super Princess Peach game coming out was, because of 9/11. They say that since the world is becoming dangerous, super peach is the response to
Non-white heroin 's tend to settle more often for modest aspirations where Mulan is an example of stereotyping against race and gender. When Disney animated films are in the works there is almost always a strong relationship between the father and daughter. A scene from the film when Mulan returns home her father tells her that she is the greatest gift and honor because she is his daughter (1:19:36). Cultural beauty is a standard of women in China which was stereotyped fair skin "Paler than the moon" (48:05). Mulan wipes off the pale makeup on her face representing that she does not want a part in the gender roles that are put on her by society.
Even when Disney began to feature strong women who could kind of save themselves, like Jasmine, Esmeralda, and Megara, Disneyfied societies clung onto the misogynistic ideals of the past. Disneyfication perpetuates sexism and the idea that females are the weaker sex, while Disney continues to move forward with strong female characters, like Nani from Lilo and Stitch, and Tiana from The Princess and the